Gangster jihadEuropean jihadists and the new crime-terror nexus

Published 13 October 2016

A new study of European jihadists and the increasing convergence between criminal and jihadist milieus, challenges long-held assumptions about radicalization, recruitment, and how to counter terrorism. The presence of former criminals in terrorist groups is neither new nor unprecedented. But with ISIS and the ongoing mobilization of European jihadists, the phenomenon has become more pronounced, more visible, and more relevant to the ways in which jihadist groups operate. In many European countries, the majority of jihadist foreign fighters are former criminals.

The International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence (ICSR) has released its new study on European jihadists and the increasing convergence between criminal and jihadist milieus. The study challenges long-held assumptions about radicalization, recruitment, and how to counter terrorism.

ICSR says that the presence of former criminals in terrorist groups is neither new nor unprecedented. But with ISIS and the ongoing mobilization of European jihadists, the phenomenon has become more pronounced, more visible, and more relevant to the ways in which jihadist groups operate. In many European countries, the majority of jihadist foreign fighters are former criminals.

The purpose of this new report is to describe the nature and dynamics of the crime-terror nexus, and understand what it means. To do so, a multi-lingual team of ICSR researchers compiled a database containing the profiles of 79 recent European jihadists with criminal pasts.

What the researchers have found is not the merging of criminals and terrorists as organizations, but of their social networks, environments, or milieus. Criminal and terrorist groups have come to recruit from the same pool of people, creating (often unintended) synergies and overlaps that have consequences for how individuals radicalize and operate. This is what the researchers call the new crime-terror nexus.

Radicalization and recruitment
The profiles and pathways in the ICSR database suggest that the jihadist narrative — as articulated by the Islamic State — is surprisingly well-aligned with the personal needs and desires of criminals, and that it can be used to condone as well as curtail the continued involvement in crime.

For up to ten of the individuals in the ICSR database, the researchers found evidence for what they termed the “redemption narrative”: jihadism offered redemption for crime while satisfying the personal needs and desires that led them to become involved in it, making the “jump” from criminality to terrorism smaller than is commonly perceived.

Prisons
Fifty-seven percent of the individuals in the ICSR database (45 out of 79 profiles) had been incarcerated prior to their radicalization, with sentences ranging from one month to over ten years, for various offenses from petty to violent crime. More significantly, at least 27 percent of those who spent time in prison (12 out of 45 profiles) radicalized there, although the process often continued and intensified after their release.